(By Obianuju Okafor)
I recently got into a conversation with a friend who expressed her views on how people have terribly changed with respect to what they perceive or think morality should be. I thought to share this because that conversation reminded me of a similar conversation I had with my Uncle, who is a Pharmacist by profession, some months ago. She said a male friend of hers told her she was being naïve because she was of the opinion that people (teenagers and unmarried) can have a relationship free of sexual affairs, and that she has to believe that every relationship is tied and sustained with that. In her opinion, she does not believe that “philosophy” because she wanted to keep her self esteem and also avoid the so many risks that come with sexual relations but to cap it all is the fact that we cannot rule it out as a sin against God. She wonders why he saw her as being naïve because of these reasons rather than being a morally upright person. She believes that the moral decadence in our present day society is mind-blowing.
A reflection on one of the points she raised as being the risk that comes with sexual relations hinges on an issue my Uncle also raised during the discussion with him. He said he wanted us (my sister and I) to get married and settle down as soon as possible, not just because we were getting older but because he knew that majority of our young female adults are using contraceptives. He strongly advised that we should desist if we were into such and that he would not keep mute and watch his nieces get into trouble knowing the negative implications of these drugs since he was in the field of medicine. He said” I am a pharmacist, we prescribe and sell these drugs but the truth will never be told of the dangerous after effects that these drugs portray”. Contraceptives he said will carry out their job effectively but the after effect will manifest in the children of the said contraceptive user sometimes leading to cervical cancer. Another important area he mentioned was complication in child birth for users as a result of blood clotting as well as some contraceptives leading to obesity in females. A lot of these contraceptives cause blood clotting and other complications may arise due to improper blood circulation.
I have always been of the opinion that these contraceptives will have a side effect and wondered how married couples are able to sustain their marriages without having to give birth to so many children. Being a catholic has helped to throw light more on contraceptives and the unhealthy implications of them as well as the need to only use the natural family planning method which happens to be the safest, healthiest, oldest, most effective, proven, tested and trusted method of birth control.
What more can we say, life has been made very easy and so we have it served on a platter of gold to us, but please ladies need to be aware that they are especially more at risk with the numerous side effects of our risky behaviours, the men I am sorry to say and not being biased are left to enjoy the benefits while we bear the brunt (Pregnancy, Cervical cancer, Obesity etc). People sure have strong beliefs about what is right and wrong, although morals can vary from person to person and culture to culture but many are practically universal. Today, we can choose to take a decision to stop the risky habits/behaviours that exposes one to a short life span.
Let’s live responsibly!
